Facebook adds “I’m expecting” option

Now you can easily let friends and family know when you’re pregnant. Facebook has introduced an option that allows you to add an “expected child,” your due date, and a baby name to your profile page.

The social networking site rolled out the option to add family members to profile pages in 2010 and last week the option to include not-yet-born members was added.

This comes as no surprise. Facebook is continuously adding features allowing members to personalize their profiles. The relationship status options now include “In a civil union” and “In a domestic partnership.” But has the personalization made things impersonal?

Women used to pick up the phone to share their exciting news with parents, aunts and uncles, and close friends. They’d slowly spread the word as they bumped into friends at the grocery store or at the park. They’d map out when to alert co-workers. When you’re pregnant, it’s fun to tell people in person and receive congratulatory hugs. And friends and family appreciate personalized announcements via the phone or an email–or gosh, even a text message. How does Aunt Judy feel when she receives word through your news feed that’s read by 544 people?

The new feature could also cause some problems if used carelessly. A newly pregnant woman might announce her pregnancy on Facebook, forgetting that she wanted to wait a couple months before alerting her employer.

And what if you have a miscarriage? Going through a pregnancy loss is difficult and the last thing you want to do is delete your unborn child from your profile page.

And so before you add an expected child to your profile page, think things through. Are you ready for 1,033 people to know that you’re two months pregnant?